Double Trouble! Epilogue.

I took Laura back to her place. She recovered a little in the car. She'd never been that close to her Dad, and the fact that he was a criminal helped too. Emily was rather quiet, as if she'd done something terribly wrong. I suppose she had, really. After all, she'd killed the father of a girl she was starting to regard as a friend.
Scruff patched up my shoulder, and I was feeling a lot better by the time we arrived at Laura's place. My costume was torn away from my shoulder, but it was a mild night, and it's a whole lot better than going around with a knife stuck in there.
It meant we had to use the stairs. No-one was home - the ape-like manservant had either gone to bed or gone on the run, take your pick.
Up in her room, Laura pulled back her cowl. Under it her face was pretty bruised and battered. She'd heal, though. It could have been so much worse.
"How do you feel?" I asked her.
"Relieved I'm alive," she answered. "You're right, I didn't know what I was getting myself into when I first put this costume on. I guess I thought it was all a game, and it isn't."
"No," I affirmed. That's important. "People die. Us, we've chosen this life. Emily can't really do much else, and me, I'm used to it and in love with a man who does pretty much the same sort of thing. But you can go back."
"I can. Now Dad's dead I'll inherit his money. I have to do something with it - and it won't be bankrolling the Black Kitten!" she laughed. "First I have to go back to school!"
Scruff laughed. I wondered if she really ought to go to school?

We talked for several hours. I wanted to make sure that she wasn't on her own. Then both of us dropped off, and when I woke I was lying on Laura's bed, next to her, and it was morning.
I don't operate in bright daylight, and since Laura was asleep, I slipped out of the house, taking Scruff and Emily with me. Part of me felt bad at leaving Laura, but what else could we do?

She got over her Dad's death pretty well and returned to her expensive school. London was back to having only one cat-themed crime-fighter. As for the Black Kitten's costume, it's hanging in my secret base as a reminder of an adventure in which, for a brief time, I had a double.
Emily's still Emily. The little black smoky crossbow-wielder doesn't change that much. But now she writes to Laura at school every so often. And Laura, bless her heart, writes back.
Scruff's just glad I'm not being so catty any more!

THE END
of 'Double Trouble'

The Girl in Grey will be back in

'REVENGE OF THE ADVENTURER'